1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a method and system for intelligently controlling a remotely located computer. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a control system connected to a video output port and at least one data input port of a computer located in a first location. A user located in a second location, remote from the first location, controls the computer in the first location through the control system as if the user were directly connected to computer at the first location.
2. Discussion of the Background
Modem computing has migrated away from the use of centralized mainframes to the use of individual (or personal) computers. With that migration has come a decentralization of many of the resources that were centralized in a mainframe environment (e.g., peripheral devices including magnetic or optical disks and their associated files). That decentralization has not been accompanied by an equivalent increase in peer-to-peer networking capabilities such that those decentralized resources are available to a user as the user moves. Moreover, system administration of multiple physically remote systems increases maintenance concerns.
As a result of the lack of peer-to-peer access, a number of systems have been developed to provide control of remote computers. Unfortunately, many of those solutions have provided very limited control of the remote computer. The most rudimentary type of control is a text-based dialup connection. Control of the remote system is then performed through terminal emulation. Control using terminal emulation is also possible through network connections as opposed to dialup connections. Using (1) a telnet server (or daemon) on the remote computer and (2) a telnet client on the local computer, a user can connect to a remote computer--even across a wide area network (e.g., the Internet). However, telnet access also is limited by the fact that such control requires additional software (i.e., the server) to be running on the remote computer. Such server software may "crash" due to the errant operation of the computer. As a result, access to and control of the remote computer is lost after a crash or after a system "hang." In addition, such server software does not begin running on the remote computer until after the boot-up sequence. Thus, it is not possible to watch or alter the boot-up process using a telnet server.
More sophisticated remote control systems include the capability for graphics. Carbon Copy 32 from Compaq and LapLink from Traveling Software allow for remote access of computers while enabling a graphical user interface of the remote computer to be displayed at a user's local computer. Carbon Copy and LapLink on Windows 95, 98, NT and 2000 utilize "hooks" in the display subsystem of the remote computer to capture drawing requests (in the form of GDI calls). Those drawing requests are sent via a communications adapter to a Carbon Copy or LapLink client program running on the local computer. Once the drawing requests are received locally, the Carbon Copy or LapLink client program "re-executes" the requests so that the drawing operation is performed locally. Accordingly, the local computer displays both the local and remote images.
In addition, when using Carbon Copy or LapLink in a low to medium bandwidth connection (e.g., a 28.8 K or 56 K modem connection over a telephone line), the amount of data to be transferred becomes an important issue. In such a connection, there is insufficient bandwidth to send a complete copy of the screen frequently. PCAnywhere produced by Symantec of Cupertino, Calif. is an additional remote control program requiring server software on the remote computer in order to transfer graphics between computers.
An alternate graphical control system is the X Windows system, often run on UNIX workstations. Using X Windows, a server program running on a local computer receives drawing requests from an application running on (i.e., using the CPU and memory resources of) a remote computer. Although it is possible to utilize the X Windows graphical user interface over a wide area network, the X Windows system, like the terminal emulator and Carbon Copy systems, requires that application software be running on the remote computer in order to control the remote computer. That requirement prevents an X Windows-based system from being able to analyze or modify the boot process of the computers that it controls.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,212, to Perholtz et al., entitled "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REMOTE MONITORING AND OPERATION OF PERSONAL COMPUTERS," discloses a system in which the video, keyboard and mouse ports of a remote computer are connected to a host unit. The host unit may communicate with a local computer via a modem connection over phone lines. As described in the abstract of that patent, the video raster signal is converted to digital form.